Nail-pulling machine



July 10, 1923.

W. ELLIS NAIL PULLING MACHINE Filed May 2o. 1922 4- svheets-sneet 1INVENTORS lvm M E TTRNEK HAMM 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 mwa w. ELLIS NAIL EULLINGMACHINE Filed Ma July no, w23.

Juny 1o, 1923.

W. ELLIS NAIL PULLING MACHIN Filed May 20, 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR- Twin/Er Ju1y1o,1923. 1,461,712

W. ELLIS NAIL PULLING MACHINE- Filed may 2o. 1922 4 sheets-sheet 4 www0F BELOIT, WISCONSIN, .ASSIGNOR 0F ONE- 1 "0F BEL-UIT, WISCONSIN.

Narr-Pomme E.

v Application led May 20, 1922. Serial No. 562,305.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WALLACE ELLIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Beloit, in the county of Rock and State of `Wisconsin, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Nail-Pulling Machines,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for eX- tracting nails from boards orplanks and the object is to provide a device of said kind adaptablemainly for extracting nails from planks which have been used in concreteform work and must necessarily be cleared of nails before being usedagain for the same or other purposes.

In the accompanying drawings;

Fig. 1 is a top view of the complete machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine looking as from the righttoward the left in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail tace view of the nail driver of my machine and Fig. 5is anedge view of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the so-called rake used in my machine.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail elevation on line 7-7 in 1.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fractional face view of the yielding portion ofcam 79 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view on line 9 9 in FiOj. 1. v

Fig. 10 is a d`tail elevation of one of the main separator plates usedin conjunction with the nail-straightening and removing mechanism of mymachine.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals. my device preferablyconsists of an elongated upper main frame of two parallel channels 11,mounted securely on fouroffset supports 12. and a secondary frame 13suspended below the first mentioned channels and comprising alsoparallel channels 13"*y spaced similar to the former. Vertical slidingbars 14 secured as at 14a to the web of each lower frame channel, extendupwardly through slots 15 in the main frame and the upper end of cachengages a transverse-shaft 16 keyed in a wide faced disk wheel 17normally resting on the top flange of the main frame channel 11.

Each disk 17 functions as a cam, having a lever arm 18 secured to it anda connecting 55 rod 19 is pivotally connected with the two cams on eachside .(see Figs. 1 and 2) one of the two forward cam arms 18 (to theright in Figs. 1 and 2) being connected at 20 to the rear end of apitman 22 the forward end 60 of which is pivotally secured to a handlever 23 normally engaging a toothed segment 24. Manipulation of saidlever will raise or lower the secondary. frame, disks 17 rolling on theflanges of the main frame, raising or H lowering the shafts 16 andthereby the secondary frame. the object being to set the two frames acertain distance apart according to the thickness of planks to becleared of nails by the mechanism mounted in said frames and which willnow be described.

The right hand end of Figs. 1 and 2 is the front of the machineillustrated also in Fig. 3. into which boards or planks 25 are fedbetween two transversely arranged corsprocket chain 32 engages the twosprockets, 85

one of its runs being kept taut by a chain stretcher 33. Adjacentsprocket 29a l provide on shaft 31 a pulley 34 engaged by a belt 35extending from a pulley 35a on the shaft 36 of an engine 37, shownsecured to 9o a platform 38 in the lower portion of the machine.imparting motion to the corrugated lower roller 26a in the directionindicated by arrow 39 (Fig. 2) and thereby feedinof the left in Figs. 1and 2.

and end so planks 25 inwardly toward the o5 I In the preferred form ofmy machine, as illustrated, one wide plank or two narrow ones 25 may befed through at one time and the first operation is to remove the nailshaving their heads down, by mechanism mounted mainly in the rigid frame.The second operation is to remove nails having their heads-in the upperside of the planks, by another mechanical unit similar to the first,mounted mainly in the secondary frame and necessarily in invertedposition relative to the first mechanism. I will therefore describe onlythe mechanism of the first nail removing unit and only such parts of thesecond unit as are not common to both.

The rollers 26, 26a, which I will call the feed rollers have deep andnarrow corrugations, as shown, permitting planks to be inserted betweenthem, the protruding nails being guided into the grooved portlon of thecorrugations and the planks immediately are moved rearwardly to startthe first operation (removing nails with theirheads down). Immediatelyback of roller 26, in the main frame, I mount a transverselyreciprocable, verticallydisposed blade 4() 'of heavy plate steel (seeFig. 6) havlng at lts upper edge oppositely extended flattened bars 40adapted to slide in bearings 41, secured on the top flanges of the mainframe 11, and its lower edge comprising a row of downwardly andalternatively forward and rearwardly projecting pointed teeth 42. Theentire blade is reciprocated transversely by a horizontally arrangedbell crank 43 receiving motion through a connecting rod 44, having balljoints 44x '(see Fig. 1), the rear end of which is rotated by a crank 45at the-outer end of a shaft 46 extending through the main frame and itsother end having a bevel gear 47. A shaft 48 mounted in bearings 49 onthe side of the channel 11, has one bevel pinion 50 .meshing with gear30 on shaft 27 by which said pinion 50 and shaft 48 are rotated indirection of arrow 51, and another bevel pinion 52 meshing with bevelgear 47 rotates shaft 46 in direction of arrow 53 (Fig. 2) 54 is aspirally corrugated. drum keyedon shaft 46, the spiral ridges thereofcomprising a con-tinuous row 'of tapered pegs resembling each a frustrumof a yramid.

The teeth 42 of blade 40 are -normally just even with the surface ofplank ,25 beingy fed into the machine and the crosswise reciprocatingmovement causes said teeth to engage the pointed ends of nails 55 bentto the surface of the plank and turns said ends rearwardly or toapproximately 30V degree angle with relation to the-.long edge of theplank as the latter movestoward the spiral-l y corrugated roller 54. Thespirally arrnged semi-pyramidal pegs lof the said r ller engage theangularly arranged nail ends as the plank travels rearwardly and turnsall of said nail ends toward therear of vthe machine and in thedirection the plank 25 travels.

The next operation is to straighten the rearwardly pointing nail ends.toa vertical position and to right angles with the surface of theplank, then driving the nails downward just before they are extractedfrom the plank, by the following mechanism which, for convenience, Icall the raper. v

Said rapper is mounted on a number of transversely arranged bolts 56 and56a between-two upright frameA plates 57 secured on the inner sides ofthe main frame channels 11. The bolts 56, 56a maybe extended through thechannels and be provided with nuts at the outer sides of the channelwebs. On said bolts are placed a series of alternate thick and thinplates the entire distance between the upright frame plates. 57. Thethin plates 58 are spacers, preferably oneeighth inch thick and of theshape shown in F igs, 7 and 10, and the thick plates 59, 59, arepreferably three-eighths inch thick for best results, 59 being elongatedvertically and having reduced upper portions 59a".

lSaid upright members are engaged by the bolts 56a inthe forward part ofthe rapper and the rear spacer plates .59, also threeeighths inchthick', having each the forwardly and downwardly sloping surfaces 59,aresecured between the thin plates 58 on the bolts 56. Guided verticallybetween the plates 58 and on the sloping surface or edge 59c of eachplate 59 is a driving plunger or late 6() with a vertical front face 60(see ig 7). These plungers are threeeighths inch thick and in alignmentlongitudinally of the machine with the vertical members 59-59a of therapper, the latter members having each a rearwardly exposed verticalface 59B. The upper an ula face of 'plunger 60 is guided by a gui emember 61 with ears 61a at its ends having perforations for bolts 61b tohold the guide in the upright frame plates 57. A series of ver'- ticalplungers 62 with spacers 63 at their upper ends, and all perforated forconnecting bolts 64 and the plungers only extended upwardly andperforated for a larger bolt 65 operatlvely connected-with means, to bedescribed,l for simultaneously operating all of the vertical plungers62. These plungers 62- are the same thickness as the rear plunge ers 60,the lower ends of the; former bei-ng reduced as at 66 in Fig. 7 andytheir extreme lower ends cut square and slightly counter- ,boredupwardly as at 62a. YThe angular plungers 60 are reciprocated, by othermeans to be described, coming down on their forwardl stroke-so thattheir front ends 60 stop close to the vertical face 59wof the uprightmembers 59a -at a time when the vertical. plungers 62 are at their upperposition amavis shown dotted in Fig. 7, In said Fig. 7, as-

suming plank 25 is moa' rearwardly the point of a nail 55 is guidbetween two of the separator plates 58 then brought against the slopingface 59c of the separator plate 59 which starts to bend the end of thenail upward and as the lank radually moves on the plungers 60, y itsammering forward strokes straightens the nail with its vertical face 60auntil the nail end reaches a height where the alternating verticalplunger strikes said end downwardly with its lower end 62. The latteraction forces the nail downward so that its head will be below the lowersurface of the board (see 55b in Fig. 7) at which time another devicemounted in the lower frame of my device instantly removes the nail.

The vertical plungers of the above device are operated by a croed belt67 engaging a pulley 68 on engine shaft 36 and extended upwardly to apulley 69 keyed on a transversely arranged shaft 70 in bearings 71 intheupper frame plates 57. Keyedon said shaft, between the plates 57, is aspur ar 72, meshing with another spur gear 73 Eyed on a transverse shaft74 rotating in bearings 75 inthe plates 57. The latter shaft carries twospaced cams 76 adapted to contact with the upper ends of correspondinglyspaced vertically guided sliding bars 77 the lower ends of which areengaged by the shaft 65 of the vertical plunger series. The cams (76)push the plungers 62 down once for each vrevolution of shaft 74, and thewhole plunger member is immediately pulled up, after the cam action, bymeans of coil springs 78 engaging the same shafts 65 and 74 with theiropposite ends. (See Fi 3, 4, and 5.)

''lie angularly arranged plungers 60 are reciprocated vby another set oftwo cams 79 mounted on a transverse shaft 80 outside of the plates 57,and between the plates is a spur gear 72*l secured to the shaft andmeshing with the gear 72 on shaft 70 previously described. Said cams 79each have one side concentric with the shaft and the other sideflattened (see Fig. 2) the meeting point of the two surfaces. at oneside only, having a resilient radiallyy slidable bumper 81 with arounded outer end and is normally spring pressed outwardly by coilsprings 81X. A sliding bar 82 sliding in guides 82a and arrangedlinearly with and extending back from the straightener plates 60, isconnected to the latter by engaging a transversely arranged shaft 83projecting through slots 83x in the plates 57.*and its rear end providedwith roller 84 normally engaging the cam, the latter rotating indirectioiuof arrow in plungersnslidmg bar, etc. are normally held`pressed toward the cam TS) by coil springs 86 attached to shaft 83 andto shaft 8O with their opposite ends. In Fig. 2 the plungers are downthe shde 82 also down because it is lheld thus by the outer curve of thecam 79 but when the cam rolls around the slides 82 and consequently theplunger 80 are brought upward by the springs 86 against the flattenedsurface of the cam until the high point of bumper 81 comes in contactwith slide 82. As the latter point is reached the slide is furthestforward permittin the straightener' plates 60 to drop forwar to thefurtht point with their faces 60. If however an extra large nail comesbetween said face and face 59'le of the upright member 59a in thestraightener, the radially yielding part 81 of the cam prevents anybreakage of parts. Said yielding element 81 is merely a radiallyslidable bar in the cam, with coil springs 81* back of it which yieldradially when undue pressure is exerted on its outer curved face 81 (seeFigs. 2 and 8).

84" are corrugated supporting rollers spaced as desired and mountedtransversely in the secondary frame 13 to support the under side ofplanks being fed into the machine and 84"' are similar rollers mountedin the main frame 11 for engaging and guiding the upper side of theplank 25 being passed through the machine.

I have described .above how nails to be extracted from the lower sidesof planks are started 'downwardly so that their heads are away from thelower side of the plank as 55 in Fig. 7. At this instant the nail ornails are immediately extracted by a claw member, as follows;

In the lower or secondary frame I key on a transverse rock shaft 87extending through the channel members of said frame and having bearing88. Said shaft 87 has keyed to it a number of eccentric disks 89 engagedby corresponding disk rings 90a of a forwardly and upwardly inclinedtoothed member 90 extending across the frame between its channels, Saidshaft also has a spur gear 94* meshing with pinion 91 and is driven bythe latter. This member 90 has two rearwardly inclined arms 9()b therearends of which are pivotally connected each with a pin 91a of a spurgear 92 `rotating on a stub shaft93 secured in the frame channel 13 andmeshing with a driving Vgear 9-1 secured on one end of a transverseshaft 94 with a sprocket 94" rotated by a chain belt 95 driven' by asprocket 96 on a shaft Tlfvin lower rearpor-Y tion of the Secondarytrame 13. A spur gear 73 on the same shaft 74f'is driven b another spurgear 72" on 'a' Vtransverse sha' t 7()r in lower part of thesafne frame(see Fig.v2), the latter shaft 70Ky having secured at its outer endapulleyfl() e'ngagedbyf a. belt 101 driven by a pulleylGQf on theengine,l shaft 36. y p v 'i The rotation of rock shaft 87 and itseccentrics causes theclaw member. which consists llO the upperffsurfaceof the plank the same mechanism is duplicated in inverted position tothe rear of those already described,

`the planks merely proceeding rearwardly andemerging from the rear endof the machine clearedof nails. I have designated all parts of thelatter nail removing device having counterparts in the first nailremoving means with like numerals and the exponent r in each case. v

A shaft 105, rotating in bearings 106 on the side of the secondary framechannel 13 has a bevel pinion 107 engaging a bevel gear 108 on the shaft31 of the initial feed roller 26. ,Said shaft has an intermediate bevelpinion 107a and a similar' pinion 107b at its rear end for driving thebevel gears 108 which in turn rotates the rear feed rollers 26 and 26dby means (not shown) similar to those which rotate the'initial feedrollers 4 The construction and operation of my invention have now beendisclosed but Variations or modifications in various4 parts thereof willprobably be necessary to the perfection o f it, without howeverdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

lVhat I claim is: l

1. In a device of the class described, a rigid elongated frame and asecondary vertically adjustable frame below the rigid frame, meanswithin said frames for moving a number of planks longitudinally betweenthem and means for removing protruding nails from the planks during themovement of thesame. y

2. The structure specifiedl in claim 1,'and means for holding thesecondary frame in spacedparallel relationto the rigid frame accordingto the thickness of planks .from which nails are to be removed.

3. The structure specified in claim 1, said plank moving'meanscomprising pairs of corrugated, transversely arranged feedrollersmounted in spaced relation vertically,

for each' pair'one in each frame, and all ro-V tated with uni-form speedand in a direction to move the l.planks rearwardly.

4. The structure specified in claim 1 in which the nailremoving meanssuccessively remove the nails from one side of the-planks and then fromthe other side thereof.

5. The structure specified in claim 4, the nail removing means for eachside of the planks' comprising successively transversely* reciprocablemeans for turning the pointed nail ends forwardly and rearwardly inapproximately longitudinal direction of thev travel of the plank, meanscomprising a transversely arranged spil-ally corrugated roller forturningr said nail yends all in one general direction rearwardly, mea-nsrearward of the drum for straightening said nail ends to verticalposition, means impelling said ve 'tically straightened nail endstowards tie surface of the plank and simultaneousl bringing the heads ofthe nails away fro the opposite surface of the plank and means engagingsaid headed end of each nailjfor extracting them from the plank. 6. Thestructure specified in claim 5, said transversely arranged nailstraightening means comprising a vertically disposed blade` withalternately forwardly and rearwardly pointed teeth in its lower edge andadjacent the surface of the plank to enga e pointed nail ends to turnthem in a generallfy forward or rearward directionwhile the plank ispassing said reciprocating toothed blade.-

7. The structure specified in claim 5, said drum arranged rearwardly ofthe reciprocating blade and having spirally arranged ridges comprisingrows of closely set projections each resembling a frustunr of a pyramidand said spiral ridges adapted to engage the nail ends and turn them allin a rearwardly directed position with their points.

8. The structure specified in claim 5, said Y nail straightening meansrearward of` the drum comprising a series of stationary spaced plateseach with a sloping face terminating adjacentthe surfacev ofA the plankand engaged by one of the pointed nail ends and tending to raise saidnail end while the plank is moving rearwardly a reciprocating guidedplunger sliding on said sloping surface its forward face verticalandadapted to contact with the nail to straighter the nail vertically.`

9. The structure specified in claim 8, and a series of verticallydisposed spaced plungers reciprocating vertically and adapted to contactwith the ends of the vertically i straightened nails tovdrive the latterpartly melma m ly connected with a rotating wheel to give the verticallydisposed spacers between the blade a rocking motion and said eccentricsplates having the sloping surfaces, for guidgiving the blade a lungingmotion with its ing the angular and vertically reciprocating l@ clawedge toward the surface of the plank plungers. v

5 thence a'vay from said surface -to extract all In testimony whereof Iailix my signature.

nails with their heads projecting therefrom.

11. The structure specified in claim 9, and WALLACE ELLIS.

